Shakespeare's sonnets get a new iPad, iPhone app

William Shakespeare is believed to have written 154 sonnets. (Getty Images )

William Shakespeare is believed to have written 154 sonnets during his life. Carrying around the complete volume has never been physically burdensome since each poem is a mere 14 lines. But a new application for the Apple iPad and iPhone is seeking to make the sonnets even more portable and accessible.

The free app, which is downloadable from the Apple store, is a multimedia experience that includes short videos of actors reciting the sonnets. New videos will be released on a rolling basis, shot on different locations throughout New York.

The project is the brainchild of the New York Shakespeare Exchange, a nonprofit company that mounts stage productions of the Bard's plays and creates multimedia ways of making his writing accessible to the public.

This isn't the first Apple application focused on Shakespeare's sonnets. Touch Press has released an app that features videos of actors reciting the poems, with a roster that includes Patrick Stewart, Kim Cattrall, Simon Russell Beale and David Tennant. The application costs $13.99 from the iTunes store.